Standards create challenges

Despite the act's focus on making America's children healthier, many school district officials have found it difficult to keep up with the rigorous standards of the program.

Dr. Charles Prijatelj, superintendent for Tuscarora School District, said his district struggled with staying within the regulations, while at the same time providing healthy foods students wanted to eat.

"When it first came out, it was so limiting in what you were allowed to offer. Green beans and peas only go so far," Prijatelj said.

U.S. Rep. Glenn Thompson, R-Pa., said much of the criticism he has heard about the act is about how inflexible the standards are. Thompson said the nation's dietary guidelines, which are the basis for the act's standards, are not as strict.

"If you look at the recommended dietary guidelines, those guidelines themselves, when they stand on their own, allow for variance," Thompson said. "It recognizes the need for flexibility in meeting nutritional needs."

Waynesboro, Tuscarora, Greencastle-Antrim and Chambersburg school districts had to manage an increase in food expenses. Fresh fruits, vegetables and whole grains tend to cost more than their unhealthy counterparts, leaving some schools to more carefully manage their budgets and increase individual lunch prices to reach the federal level.

Several school districts also saw an increase in food waste, which made handling food costs more challenging. Under the act, students are required to take food from three of the five food components, which includes grains, proteins, fruits, vegetables and dairy.

"When it comes to doing the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act, the biggest issues we have are we've got to be able to break even with our lunch program," Prijatelj said. "We've got to be able to make enough money to cover costs. Some of that (food) is not exactly high on the favorites list for some of the kids."

One of the largest components of the act is its emphasis on educating students why they need to make healthier food choices. Eric Holtzman, business administrator for Waynesboro, said when students leave the school, they no longer receive that education and can make unhealthy choices.

The Successes

Regardless of the challenges, Jared Ford, director of food services for Shippensburg Area School District, said he believes the act's guidelines were created with students' best interests in mind.

"Things change constantly and we have to change with it," Ford said. "So, we take those guidelines, we follow them and the biggest thing is the education behind it — why are we eating this way? Why are we serving this kind of food?"

Ruth Helman, food services director for Waynesboro, said she sees students slowly adapting to the healthier options, with students in high school being more vocal about what they do and do not like and students in elementary school being more willing to try new foods.

"It's just like anything else, it's going to take time for these kids to start eating these things and learning how to eat healthy," Helman said.

Senator Bob Casey voted yes to the act in 2010 and has been involved in its reauthorization process. Casey said the education should not stop once the child leaves school.

"It's the responsibility of parents, as well as policy makers, to be consistent in our message about why this is important to school children, why it's important to their future," Casey said. "I don't think we can just assume that we can just delegate that whole responsibility to the school environment or school administrators or others within our education system. It really is a message we all have to deliver."

Waynesboro has taken steps to combat food waste, including offering students different choices of fruits and vegetables.

Ford also said Shippensburg has come up with more creative ways to serve healthier options, which he said many students have had a positive response to.

"When I'm speaking with the kids, I find that the initial reaction was 'oh, I don't want that' when it comes to whole grain, but we serve a whole grain pizza here at the high school now and I get comments from the kids that this is one of the best slices of pizza they have ever had and they compare it to the chains," Ford said.

Reauthorization

With the act expiring in just a few days, it is now going through the process of reauthorization.

Thompson said he is recommending several changes, which include co-sponsoring the School Milk Nutrition Act — a bi-partisan bill, which would allow schools to serve low-fat flavored milk.

"Despite the fact that there's an increase in enrollment in schools, the milk consumption has dropped dramatically," Thompson said. "I think that, to me, the nutritional value of milk is so incredibly important and so this attempts to reaffirm the requirement that milk is offered with each meal."

Thompson is also co-sponsoring the School Food Modernization Act, which allows schools to build new infrastructure, acquire new kitchen equipment and become eligible for federal guarantees up to 80 percent of their federal loan.

Both Casey and Thompson agree that the act could be improved for its reauthorization this year.

"The good the good news is with any piece of legislation, we use the reauthorization process to address concerns, to update it, (and) to try to fix those unintended consequences that we've experienced," Thompson said.

According to Casey, there was supposed to be a markup of the legislation during the week of Sept. 14. However, this has been moved to an unknown date. If the legislation is not reauthorized by the Sept. 30 deadline, schools will rely on the previous policy.